When the machine gets warmed up
by FacelessStranger
Summary: This is one way that things could progress.....Read and review, please..............oh, and I don't own any of these characters and all that jazz


Peter Parker certainly felt as though the circumstances of his life had, to put it mildly, some room for improvement back during those first few days after he had come to his senses and switched sides during the civil war. He was on the run from the law; his marriage was growing increasingly rocky; and his aunt was dying from a bullet meant for him. However, it nonetheless had seemed to be at least some small reason to hope even during those grim days. Peter was still able to convince himself back then that society would come to his senses and the madness that spread throughout the world would recede back to manageable levels. Back then, Peter had managed to believe that the systematic ostracization of all the unfortunate individuals who found themselves with extraordinary gifts and abilities which they strove to use to benefit humanity. After all, how could it not? It seemed inevitable back in those times that the pendulum wouldn't swing back in the opposite direction and society's increasingly swift march towards fascism. Although he had probably already lost his much celebrated sense of humor a long time beforehand, Peter Parker would probably have laughed if someone had told during that grim time after he had first switched sides in the civil war that he would be looking back on those days as though they were some sort of golden age. That thought was always sort of depressing.

"Ahhh," Peter thought bitterly,"there's really no way to avoid looking back, is there? Spending too much time focusing on the mess that the world's in now would drive almost anyone insane and I've got to dwell on something. It isn't as though doing this job requires a great deal of concentration." As they came down the assembly line, Peter fitted the pieces of machinery together in the proper sequence. It was a job that even someone without Peter's considerable scientific expertise could do in their sleep. The purpose of the machines they assembled at this factory wasn't known. The finished products were shipped from this factory to another where they were used in the construction of some larger devices at a different factory. In exchange for Peter's assistance in making this happen, he received enough wages to just barely cover the rent on his shabby one bedroom apartment which was full of rats and cockroaches and to buy enough food to enable Peter to see to it that he was only slightly underfed

Peter had only been doing this job for three months. He had never stayed at one place very long in the years since a certain plastic surgeon who had a brother that was saved by Spiderman agreed to alter Peter's appearance and a sympathetic low level government employee helped fix him up with a new identity. At first, the reason he moved around so often was either that he grew sick of his surroundings or grew paranoid and thought that someone was beginning to suspect him. The reason for his itinerant lifestyle changed before long to the fact that it was almost impossible to find a job where one wasn't laid off almost immediately.

To an increasingly greater extent, everyone either lived in abject poverty or possessed so much wealth that they would have been able to buy a large building so they could fill it with money and swim around in it like Scrooge Mcduck if they had wished to do so. Peter definitely belonged to the former category. The starving masses that Peter found himself amongst were, essentially, far too worn out and dead inside to get all worked up over the endless injustices that could be found everywhere they looked. Naturally, the wealthy elite certainly weren't about to question the status quo. This was especially true when the decreasing numbers of them that still made some sort of attempt to pay attention to the world around them and stay informed were bombarded with images from the media that both assured them that they lived in a land of fairness and justice where no one was poor unless it was their own fault and also simultaneously insisted that the lower classes were getting treatment from the media that was unfairly positive.

"In a way," Peter thought,"that's sort of similar to the way that the media was always manipulating the public's opinion of superheroes. It really is no wonder that no one cared when the end came for all of us." Sometimes it seemed that the days of superheroes were over suddenly but, whenever Peter really looked back on it, it looked like it ended so quickly that none of them realized it until it was too late. Obviously, the whole thing started with the registration act being passed. Heroes who had saved the world dozens of times suddenly found that they had to register like sex offenders and let every aspect of the careers be completely controlled by bureaucrats sitting in plush offices far away. Tony Stark, acting as Iron Man, helped with crushing all resistance to this program and was eventually made director of Shield. Captain America, the leader of the resistance to this program, surrendered because he hoped it would avoid a bloodbath that wouldn't help his cause. Captain America was assassinated after he had done so. This was front page news all over the world when it happened. By the time that the Falcon was killed in custody when a similar incident took place a few short years later, no newspaper even bothered to report on it. The fact that Captain America was such an iconic figure in so many people's eyes was part of the reason that this was so but the speed with which the country continued along in the direction which it had been going was also a large part of the reason.

As for the other heroes who resisted all of this, they either had their powers taken from them by a device that Tony Stark developed for this purpose or they had mind-controlling nano-technology injected into their bloodstream and they were utilized as part of special teams the government created that were comprised of other superheroes that were being controlled in a similar fashion. When Johnny Storm, Susan Storm, and Ben Grimm all complained once two often about how so many of their friends were being robbed of their free will, their powers were taken from them by Shield operatives who were following orders given by Tony Stark. The reconciliation with his wife that Reed Richards had been working on now seemed irrevocably doomed. Reed always lost himself in his work when threatened and he now retreated deeper into his laboratory than he ever had before. Victor Von Doom, who had recently had all of his possessions and the power to rule his country taken from him by Shield operatives, approached the three members of the Fantastic Four that opposed their government's policies regarding the superhuman community with an ambitious plan to deal a powerful blow to that program. All three agreed at once to assist him. A key aspect of Doom's plan involved stealing an experimental vehicle from a government laboratory under the cover of night in a manner which strangely recalled the adventure that resulted in the formation of the Fantastic Four. This time, however, all four individuals involved were shot dead.

While newspapers were hitting the streets that contained a lead article about a government statement which described how sad it was that three of the Fantastic Four had let themselves be led astray by a terrorist like Victor Von Doom, Reed Richards perished in a huge explosion that destroyed one of his laboratory. This incident was referred to as a tragic accident when it was reported on but many felt it was much more likely a case of suicide.

Heroes who were refusing to cooperate with the government became rarer and thus harder to catch and parade before the public as evidence of the administration's might and expertise. The government soon became more and more quick to decide upon finding any excuse to declare that a hero had developed treasonous notions and now needed to be either deprived of their powers or controlled by nano-technology injected into their bloodstream. It wasn't long until the public became suspicious of individuals of superhuman abilities, regardless of what their politics were, and the government ended all programs which involved individuals with superhuman abilities working for the government. All superhumans were finding themselves either eliminated or destroyed. The genetic screening programs to prevent the future birth of superhumans and the increasingly ubiquitous sentinels which seemed to be stationed everywhere that Tony Stark reportedly went along with the registration program to avoid were now a reality.

"And so here we are," Peter thought to himself as he assembled a few more of the electronic parts in their proper configuration. Peter Parker, as Spiderman, had regularly found himself traveling to other dimensions or stopping plots to take over the world. Now, however, he spent almost all his time working at this pointless job that didn't seem to benefit anyone so he could earn enough money to just barely scrape by. Clearly, living like this day in and day out would be difficult for anyone but Peter figured that having lived his other life as Spiderman probably made it a little bit more difficult.

"Oh," Peter found himself thinking,"that life is over now, though." The last time Peter had seen anyone from those days was a little over two years ago. He had been in a large, noisy bar that was located in the middle of downtown Chicago. Peter had stopped into relax after his shift at a nearby department store which he had been working at back then. The sound of someone sitting down on the stool next to him reached his ears but Peter didn't pay any attention until he heard the man speak.

"Evenin', Pete," the man next to Peter Parker whispered in the shaky voice of someone who had seen too much,"I like the new look. Couldn't fool me, though, of course." Logan once had a wild mane of long, dark hair but as he sat there on the stool next to Peter's his head was now closely shaven. He carried himself with none of his former swagger and confidence.

"It's George now," Peter informed him,"George Williams. Nice to meet you." Peter then reached out his hand and shook the hand of his old teammate from the days he spent as a member of the new avengers towards the end of his superhero career. The two men sat talking over nothing in particular for awhile as the bar's drunken patrons sullenly sat trying to drown their sorrows. Peter couldn't help but notice the way Logan kept furtively glancing around the room as though he expected to be attacked at any moment. Peter left to use the bathroom a moment later and found that Logan was gone. What made Logan leave so abruptly was a mystery. Whether Logan was even alive any more was similarly unknown. Peter had no idea what had become of everyone that he knew in his old life. It was quite possible that he was the only superhuman left alive. Sure, Tony Stark was alive and sitting in some government office somewhere but he never went out as iron man any more. Besides, whether or not Tony Stark qualified as a hero seemed to be increasingly debatable. Peter found Logan's fate especially troubling for some reason. The reason for his sudden disappearance was, like much of the world, unclear.

A thousand different things, such as seeing his old friend in such a state, made Peter hate the powerful elite which had such a tight grip on the world. He hated the new world they built based on fear and hatred. He hated the way that living in their world seemed to squeeze all the decency and humanity out of even the most honorable of people. Peter Parker had once prided himself on his strict moral code. Since certain recent developments occurred, Peter had found himself having to relax that code a certain bit. Once Peter would have insisted that he would never steal under any circumstances. He had found himself changing that to never stealing from anyone that he didn't know was evil and then to never stealing without a good reason. Peter had managed to refrain from killing a little longer but he couldn't refrain from that forever either. It turned out that it wasn't necessary for him to kill the kingpin as he had threatened to do. Three prison inmates hoping to win some points with Spiderman took care of that for him. About a year and a half later, Electro murdered Mary Jane. Mary Jane left him about six months before her death because she couldn't stand the person she saw Peter becoming and couldn't keep living the kind of life he was living around that time. Peter tracked him down and beat him to death. Even though there were witnesses, all of them testified that the man who killed Electro was not Peter Parker because Peter had gotten plastic surgery awhile before this.

The bell announcing the end of their shift at the factory went off and all the workers got up to leave like trained rats. Peter looked out the large doors at the entrance to the factory and noticed that the sky was a bizarre shade of green that made the sky look sickly. He had never given it much thought before but he now realized that even something as simple as a sunset was being ruined by members of the elite few who were dragging the world down into the gutter.

"Attention employees," a hollow, mechanical voice announced over the loudspeaker,"current economic conditions will unfortunately necessitate another round of layoffs. Which employees are being laid off will be announced sometime next month. It is advised that each employee gives their best performance from now until then to avoid being laid off. That is all." The loudspeaker shut off with a loud scratching noise. Employees mechanically shuffled out of the factory. A few of them engaged in conversations about sports or the weather that they forgot a minute or so after they ended. When Peter got outside, he saw a headline in a small newspaper vending machine that said the president had just declared war on Syria. Homeless people collapsed every few feet along the sidewalk. Several ten-foot tall Sentinels were marching back and forth in every direction.

Everyone present would later debate what exactly it was that made Peter do what he did next. Was it something in particular that suddenly outraged or was it pressure building up over time that caused him to snap? None of them could agree on an answer.

A web shot out of Peter's wrist and attached itself to the head of one of the Sentinels. Peter yanked as hard as he could and tore the head off the Sentinel. It shot a laser beam out of its hand at Peter's last known location and then stumbled about as though searching for its head. Two more sentinels quickly converged on the scene. Peter jumped onto the shoulders of one of the Sentinels and worked at ripping its arm off. That Sentinel managed to shake Peter off and he landed on the sidewalk rather hard. Peter picked up a nearby dumpster and threw it at the Sentinel's shoulder. The arm that Peter had been working at ripping off was knocked to the ground. Each Sentinel received a signal from the Sentinels near Peter and soon what looked like an infinite number of Sentinels had arrived. Peter struggled hard but was overcome. One of the Sentinels picked his bloody corpse off the ground and flew off with it. The man who now controlled all the media outlets thought about running the story with the "Another enemy of Freedom is destroyed" angle but then decided that it seemed best to bury the story and let the public forget that age that much sooner.


End file.
